Staffing agencies look to bridge gap in healthcare shortages

While care is the top priority, it is important to understand that each situation is different.

NORTH MISSISSIPPI (WCBI) – Since the pandemic, the number of healthcare workers has dropped causing many facilities to struggle to keep needed staff.

Medical Solutions is a staffing agency with an office in Tupelo.

The organization’s goal is to help fill the gap throughout the healthcare world.

According to Medical Solutions, current staffing models in healthcare are inflexible and reliant on short-term fixes.

Vice President of Client Growth, Scott Armstrong said tackling that problem starts with changing the angle to a more forward-thinking approach.

“When you think of retention of healthcare workers a lot of people are exiting the work. They are exiting these clinical positions and moving on to different things. There is a lot more ability for clinicians to access healthcare in different ways. It’s not just hospitals. They can do virtual nursing, they can do podium, they can do or work in a hospital setting or a post-acute setting or work in a doctor’s office whereas traditionally they were kind of locked in at the 12-hour shift at the hospital,” Armstrong said.

Since the pandemic, Armstrong said they have seen the growth facilities needed to form partnerships to retain staff.

“Hospitals didn’t view us as entities that they could maybe rely on for those things. And I feel like that has really shifted. They are really seeing it and know that they have a problem on their hands and that they don’t have the resources to really combat it fully. So, they are looking for support. They are looking for ideas and strategies that align with their core values,” Armstrong said.

While care is the top priority, it is important to understand that each situation is different.

“Not all facilities are created equally. And it’s important to lean into that partnership idea for us to understand who we are talking to and what the dynamic is because it’s not a one-size fits,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong said that flexibility is the future of healthcare.

“What we are seeing is our clients that are embracing flexibility. More so than trying to act like it doesn’t exist are the ones that are the most successful. Clients are aware of this and they are looking for different opportunities to retain their clinicians as possible and give them access to work in different ways,” Armstrong said.

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